The Army of the Valley of Peace
by BlakeWilliams
Summary: Thirty years have passed, and Tai Lung will return. With the Dragon Warrior gone, Shifu and Tigress plan to raise an army in the hopes that the strength of many will defeat the malevolence of one. But everything is not as it seems. Mostly told with OCs.
1. The Dire Reunion

**Yes, it's a Kung Fu Panda fic. No, it's not for children. It's going to get kinda violent, so mature readers only. This is just the prologue to the first chapter- I'll post that a bit later. Please, please, _please_ R&R. Constructive criticism, especially for this piece, is really needed. I'd be very grateful, because I don't think I did the best I could do on this one... All comments appreciated! (but I do LOVE constructive criticism *nudges*)**

**Prologue- The Dire Reunion **

"The times of changed since I was a student," the old bear sat near the campfire he had created. He was dressed in a raggedy robe, and his voice was rusty, as if he had not used it in quite some time. His eyes, misted over with age and memory, shone by the glow of the fire. "In my time," he rasped softly, "Elders were held in the highest regard, and our students approached us with the utmost respect." He shifted restlessly, and his robes rustled softly. Moving with a calm deliberation, the bear retrieved a bowl that rested empty by his side. He leaned over the fire to dip it in a bubbling pot of soup, suspended above the flame, and brought the bowl to his lips, taking a debonair sip before replacing the bowl. The bear then opened his matured and fixed a look at the figure who sat across from him. "Have you approached me out of respect, Yong?" He inquired. "Or have you approached me out of concern for your own welfare?"

Yong eyed the bear, almost skeptically, his eyes also shimmering in the light of the flame. "Cannot it be both, Feng?" He paused and then corrected, almost reluctantly, "Master?"

Feng's eyes flashed at the usage of his first name from his pupil, but he brushed it aside. Instead, he remained silent, and studied the raccoon dog thoughtfully. Black markings streaked the matted grey fur, and slashed across Yong's eyes like scars. His hands were ideal for the art of kung fu, slender, almost feminine, and above all, agile. Yong's flexible, light frame was built for speed and agility, and his large, fluffy tail, was perfect for balance.

For years, Yong had been the perfect apprentice. He contrasted Feng's powerful, bulky frame with a rarely attained balance. The two had been faultless in battle. Feng's body had provided the endurance needed for battles against mighty armies, and Yong had been swift enough to avoid injury. But that had been years ago, and Feng acknowledged with a dour sadness that things had changed. His broad chest inflated with a sigh, and compressed smoothly as he exhaled.

"Why are you here, Yong?" His voice was soft, but carried the strength of a windstorm.

Yong looked away from Feng's seeking eyes, and studied the dirt he was sitting in. "Shifu sent me." He replied. He glanced back expectantly at Feng, attempting to gauge the bear's reaction, but Feng remained as still as a boulder. "He… has had a vision." Yong continued, prancing around his words nervously.

"Yes?" prompted Feng.

Yong let out a tense bark of laughter. "It's foolish, really…"

Feng's raised his eyebrows a fraction of an inch. "You find your sensei's precognitions… foolish?" He successfully dampened the bitterness in his tone, but failed to do so in his heart.

A muscle throbbed momentarily in Yong's jaw, but he pressed on. "Master Shifu foresaw the return of-" His voice caught, and he choked out the name. "Tai Lung." When Feng still didn't speak, Yong spoke once more. "Shifu claim- er, foresaw- the Great White Cat's return in a vision similar to Master Oogway's vision before him. But- but… Master, you and I- and all of China- know that this is impossible." Confidence straightened Yong's spine and fortified his voice. "The Dragon Warrior destroyed Tai Lung years ago. The explosion was seen for miles. Tai Lung was destroyed." Yong seemed to be speaking the words to comfort himself, rather than inform Feng.

Feng lowered his gaze to peer into the flames that flickered in between the two. Still, he did not speak. He merely sat noiselessly, the wind shifting his robes around him. His face had taken on an identifiable air of concern. His breath became uneven, uneasy, and Yong picked up on Feng's restiveness without error. "Master?" His voice shook slightly, and Yong berated himself for his fear.

Finally, Feng's voice broke through the stillness of the night. "You were my pupil for years, Yong; did you learn nothing?"

Yong blinked, and opened his mouth to speak, but found he had nothing to say.

With a gruff cough, Feng closed his eyes, his ears twitching in irritation. "Yong… Tai Lung lives on. As does Master Oogway, Master Wushi, and- if he has truly passed away- Master Po. Their bodies, of course, grew old and decrepit- unfit to harbor a soul any longer. But the soul- and the energy it possesses will never perish," Feng droned on, a note of warning ever present in his lecture. "The chi that flowed through the body is freed when a body decays, and it becomes a part of every strain and pool of force that is in existence. Master Oogway is with us still, my friend. He is in the flowers that blossom, the rivers that flow, the air we breathe in."

Sensing where Feng was headed, a dark sense of foreboding began to infest Yong's stomach, and his fur bristled.

"Such is the fate of every living thing- the masters of kung fu carry with them a knowledge that allows them to utilize this energy after their… death. Masters Oogway and Wushi are free to roam the universe as they please. And although he was never a master in name, I have no doubt that Tai Lung also possesses this power." Feng opened his eyes and fixed them on Yong once more. "Tai Lung will not return as a Great White Cat, Yong. But make no mistake- energy that is so contaminated with hatred and anger will find its way back in a different body. Tai Lung will return to us in the form of a child. And, regardless of how he is raised or nurtured, his rage will once again consume him. He could find the power to destroy us all- indeed, that will be is one and only desire."

The rice that Yong had devoured earlier began to rise in his throat, and an unruly dread seized his heart. The blood that pounded through the dog's veins chilled, and an icy sweat broke on Yong's skin. He had heard the stories, of course. The stories were legend. Tai Lung, driven by his immortal quest for power, had laid waste to villages- how the blood of the elders mixed with the blood of the children. Within no more than a few hours, Tai Lung had destroyed thousands of lives, and devastated millions. He'd been imprisoned for twenty years, but then broke free to return for the Dragon Scroll- the scroll that was said to contain the secret to ultimate and limitless power. But Master Po, the first Kung Fu warrior to gaze upon the scroll since its completion, had obliterated him, and the Valley of Peace had been saved.

But Master Po was gone now, and the antagonism and cruelty within Tai Lung had had thirty years to fester and grow from an ember to a wildfire.

Yong swallowed the lump in his throat and forced out, "What can we do, Master Feng? Master Shifu seeks your guidance. How can Tai Lung be defeated without Master Po?"

Feng didn't speak for some time. He merely gazed into the flames, listening to crackle of the writhing flames. The flames seemed to sway and dance in a language that only Feng could understand. They were whispering words that brushed the old bear's ears before fading into the night.

"He cannot." Feng said softly.

Yong blinked, failing to process what Feng had just stated. Feng noted his student's confusion. "Tai Lung… his soul, could be thousands of years old. The Great White Cat was most certainly not the first body he had. His soul has possibly been dark since the dawn of time. My theory is that- in his first life- Tai Lung was taught the ways of Kung Fu. That is why he possessed great skill at the martial arts at such a young age. That is why Oogway saw evil in him. And now that he will reincarnate himself, as evil often does, he has another lifetime of knowledge to help him in his quest." Feng was quiet once more. "He will destroy us all." He finally repeated.

Yong's head was suddenly heavy with weariness, and he reached up with a paw to pinch the bridge of his snout. He gave his head a shake, and muttered, "No, Sensei. What you say cannot be true. There must be a way to stop him." Yong's eyes brightened with inspiration and he jerked his head upwards. "Wait- you say that Tai Lung will reincarnate himself, yes? Well, then, Master Po- or Master Oogway! Surely, one of them will return and defeat Tai Lung, as they did before!"

Feng was tempted to smirk at the naïve hope in Yong's eyes, but his face remained grimly cemented, and he gave his head a slow, firm shake. "Only someone as foolish, selfish, and greedy as Tai Lung would choose to live another lifetime. We are given one life only, Yong. That is all we are meant to live. To reincarnate oneself is a mistake that wise ones would never consider."

The glimpse of salvation Yong had was extinguished without mercy. There was silence once more. The fire continued to burn ravishingly, and in the distance, crickets could be heard chirping their nocturnal song. A winter wind slipped among the trees, and the leaves shivered, mirroring a fear that came with the knowledge Feng had given Yong. Sapped of his energy, Feng seemed to droop with depression. Yong shivered- not from the weather- and pulled his imperial robes about his body tightly. He swallowed once more, but this time the lump did not disappear. It remained lodged in his throat, choking Yong with a bleak sense of horror.

Yong had been trained from birth to hide his emotions so that not even a fur on his face betrayed how he was feeling, but nothing was able to smother the desperate, lost crack in his voice, or the desolate tear that brimmed his eye. "We are surely lost, then." His voice sounded dead and hollow. It was a stranger's voice emanating from Yong's throat.

Feng's voice, void of emotion, stumbled from his throat helplessly. "Yes, Yong. I fear we are lost."

In the distance, a cry of a wolf or dog spiked across the mountains, as if the very Earth was weeping for the inevitable death of her children. Feng raised his eyes towards the heavens once more.

"We are lost."


	2. Visitor from Afar

It truly wasn't fair. Reizo knew the thought was a childish one, but it came all the same. He kicked at the dirt irritably, before flopping into the earth with resignation. It was summer, but the early mountain air chilled Reizo to his bones. He gazed out across the valley that indented the mountain range. It was peaceful, and unpopulated. Lush green grass carpeted the ground, and an azure river sliced across the valley, disappearing into the mountains, travelling towards the sea. Above the small, quiet valley, indigo mountains towered, kissed by phantasmal clouds. At the highest peaks, snow still clung, as white and pure as the moon.

Reizo had lived all his life here. He'd even romped in the valley when he was younger. The creek was too frigid to splash in for an extended amount of time, but Reizo had often waded in it when he was bored. As the Kishu dog had grown older, his father, Wei Long, had taught him the art of Kung Fu in the valley. Days upon days had passed, and Reizo had trained alongside his father until sweat broke out upon his back. He'd become skilled with the staff, though it had taken months upon months. His knuckles had been broken or bloodied numerous times by his father's strikes and blows. He'd gone to sleep to escape the soreness in his body, only to wake up hours later to train harder and faster.

Why his father had insisted on teaching him Kung Fu, Reizo had never understood. Wei and Reizo had lived in the mountains since Reizo was a pup. His mother had perished in childbirth, after a difficult and long labor. The closest village was located in the Valley of Peace and Wei had forbidden Reizo to go there. The valley was a hard two days walk to the south, and Wei was convinced that Reizo was too young to go alone. The boy had always longed to travel there, though. He yearned to see another living creature that wasn't related to him. The Valley of Peace was also the birthplace of the Furious Five and the Dragon Warrior. His father had told Reizo many stories of them- how the Furious Five had battled the Dark Ninjas of Hiroshima, how the Dragon Warrior had trained until near-death and defeated the villain Tai Lung.

The legends fascinated Reizo. He severly wished his father had never told him of the fates that had befallen the Masters and the Five. Several years before Reizo's birth, the Dragon Warrior had disappeared, and was presumed dead. The Furious Five had been shattered with the deaths of Monkey and Mantis, combined with Viper's resignation. Tigress and Shifu had remained at the temple, to train other students in the art, hoping beyond hope to rebuild the Furious Five with younger and more agile creatures. They had little luck, and slowly the Valley of Peace had succumbed to chaos, confusion, and often violence. At least, that was how the situation had been standing when Wei Long had taken his wife and newborn son to the mountains in a bid to shield his son from the evils of the valley.

Years had past, seventeen of them, and Reizo wanted to see if anything had changed. But Wei Long remained adamant that neither he nor his son ever returned to the Valley of Peace. Which was why, when a small, gray goose had flown over the ridge and demanded to speak to Wei Long, chills had crawled across Reizo's spine. The goose, who'd introduced herself as 'Ling' had flown in from the south, and was wearing the golden imperial robes that signified Ling was from the Jade Palace in the Valley of Peace. Drool had spilled from Reizo's mouth as he yapped questions at the goose.

"How is Master Shifu? Did the Dragon Warrior ever return? Did Master Viper return? Have the Furious Five been rebuilt?"

Ling had looked bewildered, and narrowed her eyes at him disapprovingly, before reiterating her demand to see Reizo's father. Reluctantly, Reizo had called to Wei, and had promptly been kicked out of the house. Wei insisted on talking to the newcomer in private and curiosity was killing Reizo. He was an adult, and was responsible enough to know why a messenger from Jade Palace was contacting Reizo's father.

Shoving himself to his feet, Reizo dusted off his haunches and sent a glance back at the house. He chewed ponderingly on his lip. If he stood downwind, and near the window he'd broken a couple weeks ago, it was possible he would be able to hear the conversation. Why not? Who knew when another animal from the Valley of Peace would contact Wei again? The knowledge of what was being said behind closed doors outweighed the fear of any punishment Wei could think up. Besides, Reizo mused, he's already punished me for the window; what more can he do? Strengthened, Reizo slipped along the earth, keeping low, nearing the house on quiet, cautious paws.

He neared the window. It was less of a window now and more like a gaping hole in the side of the house. Reizo's right paw still ached from the glass he'd cut it on when he'd destroyed the casement. He'd been furious when his father had told him there would be no journey to the valley that night, and the pane had been the closest thing to annihilate. Wei had taught Reizo to hide his emotions, to prevent any opponent from seeing fear or anger. Reizo, however, had noticed that his anger simply seemed to bottle up inside of him and then explode at inopportune moments. Reizo had felt terrible for destroying the window- it would take weeks to replace the glass and until it was fixes, Wei refused to teach his son any more kung fu maneuvers.

But now the window provided a medium for Reizo to learn why Ling was visiting his father, and for that, he was grateful. He approached the window, taking care to make no sound that Wei could detect. He adeptly remained downwind, sidled up to the opening, and pricked his ears to tune into the sound of his father's voice.

"Why now, Ling?" Wei was, as always, patient and his deep voice was even and tranquil. "It's been years and… Shifu and I were not on the best of terms when I departed."

A trim, sharp voice trilled in reply, "Why do you think, Master Long?! We have no options! If Tai Lung is truly going to return, it will take an army to defeat him- an army we must build quickly, if we are to be prepared. You were one of the best! You cannot turn your back on us now." The last sentence was more a plea than a statement. Reizo quivered with excitement and trepidation. Tai Lung? How could he return? And his father was needed?

Wei was silent for a moment, and Ling rustled her feathers with impatience. Finally, Wei spoke. "You have spoken with Feng Sho?"

"Yong Li is with him as we speak." Ling snapped.

Wei paused again, his breathing steady. "Well," he finally breathed, his voice tremoring above a whisper, "Master Sho is stronger than I ever was. He must lead this army you speak of. Not I."

A strangled honk escaped Ling's throat. "And if he refuses?! He is a stubborn bear, Master Long- an excellent teacher, but stubborn all the same! He is set in his ways, and- What about your son? He looks old enough to battle! I assume you have taught him our ways, why not allow him to achieve the honor you once had."

Reizo's heart began to flutter rapidly. Ling had said battle… against Tai Lung? A mixture of emotions assaulted the Kishu, and his eyes sparked. It was all he'd ever dreamed of- he could travel to the Valley of Peace, and train under Masters Shifu and Tigress. He could become a kung fu master himself, he could save lives, protect the innocent, vanquish the evil, attain honor and respect for him, his father, his mother-

Reizo's thoughts were dashed with his father's next words. "No, Ling. I refuse to allow my son to fight such a war. He is not ready."

A small snarl edged at Reizo's lips and anger flooded his mind and body. He was ready! He'd proved it thousands of times! How many times in the valley had he defeated his father in a duel? His father! A kung fu master! If Reizo could do that, surely he could help defeat the greatest wickedness that the Valley of Peace had ever seen. Seething, Reizo attempted to calm himself with a soothing inhale, and in that breathe, he realized that Ling was speaking once more.

"- been training him since he was a child, I'm sure! How long do you intend to keep him up here, sheltered from reality? He is growing into a man, and this is no way for him to live! You are inhibiting his development as a worthy citizen and a warrior! Is that any way to-"

A loud bang shot from the small house, and Reizo jumped. "Do NOT tell me how I should parent my own son, Ling!" Reeizo jumped, and his ears flicked with alarm. Never in his life had his father lost his temper like that, much less shouted or pounded the table with his fist. His father was a steady rock of emotional stability. Reizo had never heard such a wrathful tone enter Wei's voice, and it struck terror into his spine. Even Ling seemed shocked into silence.

Wei gave a deep, slow sigh, and regained his composure. When he spoke, he kept his voice low and placid once more, and Reizo had to learn further to catch the words that were being spoken. "Ling, you surely remember the events that caused me to leave the Valley of Peace in the first place, yes?" The was no verbal response, and Wei continued, "I cannot expose my son to any of that. I assume Kaemon is still dwelling on the edges of the valley? And… Kaori as well. Do you ask me to put my son in the presence of such…" Wei couldn't seem to think of a word that full encompassed his disgust. "Ling, I left for a very good reason, a reason that outweighs my desire to return. I'm sorry, but neither Reizo or I will return with you. Extend to Master Shifu my sincerest apologies, please."

There was another pause, and Reizo silently pleaded with Ling to speak up and insist that they must come. This seemed to be his only chance to leave the only place he'd ever known and every bone in his body ached to leave. He stood immobile as he waited for Ling to respond. If only she would beg some more…

"Very well, Master Long." Her voice was cold and embittered. "I will tell Master Shifu."

And with that sentence, Reizo felt all his desires shatter into a million little pieces.


End file.
